Me and Peej
by omfgitsdaisy
Summary: A cheeky fanfic involving kickthepj, peej, Pj Liguori, yeah him. I would appreciate it SO much if you were to tell me what you thought of it. Thanks :]
1. Chapter 1

My new converse coated feet trod along the path of Southbank on a warm afternoon. My blonde hair whipped out behind me when gusts of wind swept past, and I pulled my coat tighter around me as I kicked through a small heap of leaves. Autumn was upon the world and everyone I saw had scarves and gloves wrapped around them to fight off the biting chill. Leaves were falling from the branches of trees. Eventually the trees would stand naked.

The wind was calming as I was approaching the London Eye. The sun poked out from behind a cloud and shone a haze of light over the city. I decided to stop walking and lean against the brick wall which protected people from plunging onto the stones beside the Thames. I rested my arms against the wall, crossed one foot over the other, and took a deep breath. The smell of autumn air is my favourite smell. For a moment I closed my eyes, until the sun began to send waves of blurry orange beneath my eyelids. Ten, perhaps fifteen minutes passed while I stood here.

A man wearing a long black coat and stylish brown shoes stood beside me just as a seagull was passing a boat on the river. I acknowledged him as he did me; a brief glance and a small smile. He had dark wavy hair which was fluttering over his green eyes. He had a nice face, the kind you would see in a magazine as a model for men's fashion. I looked back over the river, feeling a small sensation in my stomach, for the simple reason that an attractive man and I had shared eye contact and a smile. Another boat passed by and the man got out his iPhone. He raised it at arm's length before him and seemingly took a photo of the horizon in front of us. This reminded me to check Instagram, to which I was slightly addicted. I clicked open my phone by entering the four-digit password and opened the app. Coincidentally, there was a photo of Southbank waiting for my appreciation on the homepage. It was captioned 'it's a lovely afternoon.' to which I could only agree. The wind was gentle and the sun was shining surprisingly brightly for an autumn afternoon. Occasionally a bird would whistle in the trees behind me and another would reply immediately. Studying the photo further, I noticed the view it had captured was the one before me now. I squinted at it until realising it must have been uploaded by the man standing next to me.

He coughed and slid his phone back into his pocket. That was when I noticed the username. My heart started beating in double time as I realised the man in the black coat and stylish brown shoes standing next to me was PJ Liguori.

PJ shuffled his feet left to right, gathering up a group of leaves. I starred at his feet. I didn't know what to say. PJ is my favourite content creator, my idol. To be standing next to him was unbelievable.

"Excuse me?" I said, as calmly as I could manage. It probably wasn't very calm.

He turned to look at me. His eyes were so beautiful; two seas of bottle green. A polite smile fell across his face as he answered 'yes?'.

"Er…" I hadn't thought of what to say next. Oh god.

PJ looked at me with a polite expression, yet it was clear he was thinking I was crazy. He thinks you're crazy, he thinks you're crazy. Just say something.

"Do you like your ham thickly sliced?" I said in a deep voice, quoting a line from one of his videos.

You're an idiot.

I looked hopefully into his eyes that he would realise I was quoting his own words, and wasn't just some sort of insane girl he had never met asking about his preferences in ham.

He blinked. Then a smile crept up across his face and he started to laugh. I laughed too, ducking my head down to hide my blushing cheeks. When I looked up again he was smiling at me.

"You watch my videos."

PJ was speaking directly to me. Not me amongst thousands of others when he uploads a video. Just me.

"Yeah."

I couldn't stop smiling. This was honestly like a dream. I wanted to tread carefully in case I woke up.

"It's nice to meet you. What's your name?"

"Daisy. Hey."

"Hey!"

He held out his hand and I shook it. My hand felt like it had been electrocuted with warm sensations as I touched his skin. Watching his videos at home, I always imagined what it would be like to meet him. Now it was happening my mind was all over the place. I noticed my hands were shaking slightly and I shoved them deep into my pockets to hide them.

I opened my mouth to speak to him, but as I did so a huge crack of thunder clapped across the sky. We both looked upward and instantly got water in our eyes, as rain had began to pour down to the ground. My clothes were soaked in an instant, as were his. I gasped in shock as the cold swept over me.

"Come on!" PJ said loudly over the splashes of water cascading down on us. He ran and I followed him. We ran together, our feet clapping loudly onto the wet pavement. People all around us were running to escape the rain too, ducking under umbrellas, which were doing little good, or finding a nearby shop in which they could hide.

PJ was a very fast runner, but luckily so was I. My feet kept up with his reasonably well. I squinted to avoid rain water getting into my eyes as we continued to run. A minute later we came to a small coffee shop on the corner of the road, and PJ took hold of my hand and lead me inside. We were standing in a small porch with deep red brick walls and wooden floorboards. There was a wooden seat along one of the walls on which stood a large ceramic mug, with writing on it that said The Little Coffee Place.

"Phew." I gasped, slightly out of breath.

PJ's hair was a deeper shade of black because of the rain, and strands of it were clinging to his forehead. He swept them away with the back of his hand. There were droplets of water speckled across his face and down his neck. One fell from his eyelashes as he looked down at his wet jeans. I tried hard not to stare.

"I'm sorry about that. Forcing you with me, I mean. You just seemed nice; I didn't want to just run away from you."

I smiled.

"Not even when I asked you if you liked your ham thickly sliced?"

"Not even then, no."

We shrugged off our wet coats and hung them up on some coat pegs. I patted my hair and found that it had risen atop my head in a maze of blonde mess. It always went frizzy when wet, typical. I flattened it as best I could by raking my fingers through it.

"Do you want to go inside?" he asked me.

I nodded. And then PJ Liguori and I stepped inside The Little Coffee Place.


	2. Chapter 2

"Better?"

"Mm." I quickly licked my lips. "Much."

The hot chocolate warmed me up a lot. My toes were still cold but there was nothing I could do about that for now. I nodded inquisitively in the direction of his tea as I took another sip from my drink.

"Yeah. Much warmer, yeah." PJ murmured.

We had been sitting in the coffee shop for a while, sipping from our mugs of hot beverages, and very often had been glancing out the window or clearing our throats unnecessarily. There was an awkward silence between us. The initial, fairytale type running through the rain with a complete stranger into an adorable coffee shop feeling had faded. Now we were just two people who knew little of the other, drinking tea and hot chocolate together.

PJ drummed his fingers on the table, before picking up the teaspoon he had previously been using to stir his tea and twisted it between his fingers. I watched his fingers, long and elegant.

"The rain's calming down."

He followed my gaze out the window to his left. There were dark clouds overhead, but the sun had found an opening through which to shine. Wet leaves were stuck to the ground and to the bottom of shoes of passersby. One man in an overcoat took out a handkerchief and blew his nose, and walked off, stepping in puddles reflecting the sunshine.

"I love that. When the rain's stopped and the sun is coming out again."

He looked at me curiously, smiling a little.

"What else do you like?" he asked.

I thought for a moment.

"The traditional, pathetic stuff. The smell of freshly cut grass and new books. Eating the food I've been craving all day. Defeating a boss on Super Mario Galaxy after days of trying to."

"How about drinking a hot chocolate with a handsome stranger?" He raised his mug and took a sip from it.

"Especially drinking a hot chocolate with a handsome stranger," I said with a grin.

I asked him what he liked. It was everything I expected. Creating content, telling stories, drawing, comic books, Zelda. I told him about my fear of clowns.

"Wiggles isn't on the list of favourites then?"

"No no, he's there. He scared the crap out of me initially but then I remembered it was just you beneath that makeup. Not so scary then."

Smiling, PJ tucked his legs into a cross-legged position on the squashy chair he was sitting on. There were no awkward silences or pauses now. We talked about Christmas and summer, what TV shows we liked and what movies we thought were rubbish in comparison to the books.

"It's weird, being able to talk to you without typing the words."

"Weird in a good way?" he asked.

"Weird in a great way," I replied. "You replied to one of the comments I left you on a video once though. I asked if you were going to Summer in the City."

"So I met you last year?"

"Yes. I was a bit too excited to meet you; I think I accidentally punched you on the arm."

His eyes widened a little and he laughed.

"I remember that. I'd forgotten until now, but I remember."

We smiled at each other for a second and then his phone started to ring. He shoved his hands into his pocket.

"Sorry, just one sec." He cleared his throat. "Hello? Oh hi! No I just didn't recognise your voice, you alright?"

I didn't want to seem nosey and so I turned my attention back out the window again. There was a sparrow ducking its head into the same puddle the man in the overcoat had trodden through. It hopped about a bit before shaking off his feathers and flying off to somewhere I couldn't see. I took a few more gulps of my drink and wrapped my hands around the mug to keep them warm.

"What, now?"

I looked at PJ. He was frowning and looking down at the table, pinching a sachet of salt between his fingertips.

"Fine, yeah okay. See you in a bit then." He locked his phone and put it back in his pocket.

"That was my friend, I have to go." His eyes didn't meet mine when he said this; instead they were on something behind me, though it didn't look like he was paying any attention to whatever it was.

"Oh." There was no masking the disappointment in my voice.

"This was nice, erm..." he stood up, brushing off his lap and tugging his t-shirt down a little.

I looked up at him and smiled faintly. "Thank you for the hot chocolate."

"Thank you for a lovely chat," he said warmly.

"I'm sorry for punching you in the arm."

"Are you coming to Summer in the City this year?"

"Just try and stop me."

"I'll see you there then. I'll remember you."

And with that, he walked off. I was left staring at the spot where he had just been standing, a thick lump in my throat and a knot in my stomach. Looking back down to the table, I heard the bell above the door as it opened and then a click as it closed shut. There was still some tea in his mug. It was wobbling about a little bit from when PJ had knocked into the table as he stood up. I watched it until it calmed, swigging the last sip of hot chocolate from my mug before walking away from our table and out of the shop.


	3. Chapter 3

When I was six I had a puppy called Rex. He was birthday present from my parents. I didn't stop smiling all day as of when they gently woke me up and placed him on the pillow next to me. I cradled him in my arms as often as I could. The happiness I felt that morning was the same happiness I felt this morning. I couldn't help the smile from stretching across my face as I woke up.

I rolled onto my side, pulled the duvet up closer to my neck and nuzzled my head into my pillow. There I lay smiling for ages, thinking back to the previous day and how undeniably perfect it had been.

A knock on my door snapped me out of my daydream.

"Oi. Mum wants someone to go shopping with her this afternoon. I know you're awake in there, don't pretend to be asleep. I'm too busy with my essay to go..."

I scoffed.

"I heard that you cow!" my little sister barged into my room and leapt onto my bed.

Propping myself up on my elbows, I scowled at her from behind my bed hair which had fallen, tangled, in front of my eyes. She smirked. The state I must look.

"You look hilarious. You'd better haul your arse out of bed before mum drags mine into the car and takes _me_ with her."

"Tiff, you know the general idea of a mother slash daughter relationship is to spend time with each other," I said, collapsing back onto my bed and kicking her away.

"Then you go. You know I'm her favourite, so I'm giving you this chance to attempt to make her love you as much as she does me."

"Go away and let me sleep."

She went away but I couldn't get back to sleep after that. Instead I got up and walked into the bathroom. I stripped myself of my pyjamas and underwear, twisted the taps on the shower to the left and stepped underneath the flow of water. I hated looking at myself naked, and so I just gazed up at the ceiling while waiting for the shampoo to rinse away from my hair as the water slithered through it. A droplet of water on my eyelash fell onto my toe as I blinked. I closed my eyes, tipped my head back and let the water wash over me as I remembered the way the rain had been sprinkled across PJ's face.

Goosebumps rose upon my arms; the butterflies in my stomach dancing to the rhythm of my heart beat. The water fell thickly onto my face, crashing against my eyelids and nostrils as I stood there imagining his smile. Despite the warm water rushing over my skin, shivers flew through me. The thought of his wet hair being pushed away from his eyes, his hand holding mine for that brief moment before we stepped out of the rain, the few water droplets that fell down his neck beneath his shirt…

Water had crept through my lips and down my throat, and suddenly I was coughing and spluttering. Quickly turning the water off, I jumped out of the shower, wrapped myself in my towel and dashed back into my room.

Absentmindedly, I dressed myself in skinny jeans and a corset top, did my hair and makeup, and threw my purse and phone into a bag. An hour later mum and I were wandering to and fro clothes shops, trying on an occasional pair of jeans before deciding to retire for lunch.

"Do you know any places round here that do good cake?"

We were walking along a narrow pathway, where leaves were glued by mud to the slabs of concrete beneath our feet and a faint aroma of smoke wafted through the air. I kicked a can. It skidded away from me and knocked into a rubbish bin, startling a pigeon which promptly flew away.

I mentioned The Little Coffee Place, and its squashy chairs and hot chocolate. Mum seemed content with this decision and we began walking there. My heart was dancing slightly. I was excited to let the nostalgia of yesterday wash over me as I smelt the coffee and leather of the place.

When we got there, Mum eyed it up and down judgementally, smiled at me and nodded in the direction of the door. Walking inside, I noticed through the window the waiter who served me and PJ yesterday was here again today.

"How do you know about this place then?" she asked me as she threw her coat up on the coat peg.

"I ducked in here when it started raining yesterday."

"Oh."

Mum walked in and quickly walked toward a booth to the right of the room. Reasonably busy, the room buzzed with the noises of spoons clinking against mugs and general chit chat between customers. Something I hadn't noticed yesterday, a fireplace tucked behind the bar, crackled gently as the coffee machines hummed and chair legs scraped against the brick floor.

Our waiter, upon noticing our arrival, hurried over to our table. His ginger hair was swept away from his eyes, which lit up slightly as he smiled at me, recognising me.

"Hello, miss!" he chirped.

"Hey," I said with a smile.

"Hot chocolate is it?"

"Erm, yeah sure. Mum?"

"Oh, erm…" she snatched up a menu and scanned it quickly. "Just a tea please. Oh and one of these chicken sandwiches!"

"Of course, coming right up." I noticed his name badge; Sidney.

Sidney walked off.

"Don't give you much time to think about what you want do they," mum said, shifting about on her seat a bit and looking round. She looked over at Sidney. "I reckon he fancies you."

I smirked at her, frowning, with one of those 'come off it' expressions on my face.

"He seemed pretty happy when you turned up, dashed over as soon as he saw ya. Did you give him a big tip?"

"Must just be my natural prowess as a charmer."

A few minutes later we were sipping from our drinks, chatting about nothing in particular and laughing. We always laughed a lot on the rare occasions we were out and about together. There was a couple in the booth behind mum who I noticed didn't look particularly happy. The man was muttering something under his breath while a woman of a seemingly similar age to him watches his lips. She wiped away a tear from her eye with a napkin while choking out a few shaky words of disgust, before smacking her hands down aggressively on the table as she stood up and sauntered out of the shop. The man, who was nearly bald and rather fat, squeezed out of the booth and ran after her.

I watched the man as he stomped heavily past me. Everyone in the shop seemed to be watching him too. As he left, we all turned back to our food and drinks, giggling a little at what we had just seen. Though my gaze, on its way back to my mug of hot chocolate, caught hold of another's gaze from across the room.

My heart throbbed eagerly as I noticed PJ sitting there, and he smiled at me and winked. I exhaled in disbelief, my body suddenly feeling a whole lot hotter. Mum noticed I had been staring at a particular place for an unusual amount of time, and followed my gaze.

"Who is that guy?"

I tried to answer her but my throat felt dry. I muttered something incoherently, before standing up and walking over to where PJ was sat. The five seconds it took for me to reach him weren't enough to calm myself down over the initial surprise of seeing him again.

"Hi!" I said, quite eagerly.

"Hello again," PJ replied, a small smile across his face.

"I can't believe I'm seeing you again. I thought yesterday was just a strike of unbelievable luck when I met you but here you are. Wow, I can't even…" my mind was telling me I was speaking a little too much, and I snapped my lips shut, blushing.

PJ chuckled. "It's nice to see you again."

My mind was screaming at me, my heart beating hard against my chest and my hands trembling slightly. Appearing calm and collective didn't look to be very achievable, but I did as best I could.

"How are you?"

"I'm good, I'm good. You?"

"Good too. Here with my mum," I said, nodding in her direction.

PJ smiled at her and raised her hand in a friendly gesture, waving gingerly. She smiled back at him, though wasn't hiding her confusion well. Her frown gave her away.

"You should probably go and tell her I'm not an entirely random stranger," PJ said. "But not before I give you this."

He got out a small pencil and a scrap of paper, scribbled something down on it and handed it to me. Taking it, I noticed it was a phone number.

"That's my number. I know it's a bit forward and you don't have to if you don't want to, but I'd really like you to call me this weekend. See if we can't arrange another coffee date or something."

"S-sure." I blurted out. My head was swimming. I couldn't think straight; the excitement of what was happening was clouding over any chance I had of stringing an intelligent sentence together.

I looked down at my feet, then looked up at him and said "I'll speak to you soon then," through a grin.

"I'm looking forward to it." He smiled a crooked smile at me and said goodbye.

Mum watched me as I trod dizzily back to my seat, and tried to lift my gaze from my shoes as I sat back opposite her.

"Who was that?! He was handsome."

I looked at her and nodded, a beaming smile cutting across my cheeks. This smile wasn't going away for a long time, I thought, as I looked back over towards PJ, saw him stand up from his chair, wink at me again, and leave.


	4. Chapter 4

The next few days passed with barely an ounce of attention on my behalf; Tuesday morphed into Wednesday as easily as Wednesday morphed into Thursday. Though the events of these days passed by me mostly unnoticed, they did still crawl by infuriatingly slowly.

I concentrated as best I could on mundane tasks I completed around my house, though it was clear I had inhabited the mind of a zombie. This didn't go unnoticed to my parents, who frequently asked me where my mind was, when it should have been on the conversation we were having over dinner. My sister kept prodding me in the arm when I went quiet, teasing me, and saying I looked ugly when I stared at one spot for too long. To this, I simply flipped my middle finger up at her when mum and dad weren't looking, and escaped to my room before she could grass on me.

When hiding in my bedroom, I would simply let my headphones stick to my ears until I fell asleep, before waking up early in the morning to the loud noise of a Fall Out Boy song. I adopted a morning routine to which I stuck at idly: showering, dressing and making myself look presentable to the real world. When Friday evening hit, so did the realisation that I was just one night away from speaking to PJ again, and hadn't yet given any thought as to what to say when I rang him. I had lay in bed at night imagining scenarios that could play out when we spoke again, but none were really appropriate to go ahead with in reality. Nerves clenched in my stomach. That night I lay sprawled across my mattress, flat on my back staring up at the ceiling, mouthing the words I was considering saying. I stayed here for a while, until finally deciding that if I planned out an entire conversation, I'd have nothing to say if he said something I wasn't expecting. Relaxing, I was reminded of a scene in Friends where Phoebe goes through a similar problem. I smiled, and fell asleep.

"DAISY. GET UP NOW OR I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL MARCH IN THERE AND DRAG YOU OUT BY YOUR HEELS."

My mum's ever elegant morning tone broke through my sleep and woke me up abruptly.

"Yeah good morning mum, nice to hear your voice, it really was getting too peaceful in here."

"Ha ha. Get up." With that she walked away. I heard her footsteps on the stairs and then on the floorboards of the hallway downstairs.

I craned my neck to the right to check the time. My alarm clock told me it was quarter to twelve, consequently explaining why my mother's get-up-early-and-don't-waste-the-day attitude had chosen to wake me up.

With a jolt of my heart, I sat bolt upright. Today was Saturday, the weekend, the day to call PJ. Though I was yet unsure of when to ring him. Would he be busy in the morning? Would he think me waiting until the evening was too late? Or if I waited until tomorrow, would he assume I had forgotten and didn't really care? I fell into my morning routine and ate breakfast hurriedly, constantly thinking about when to ring him. When home alone a few hours later (my parents were visiting their friend who had just had a baby, my sister was at her friend's house) I decided I couldn't wait much longer, having been waiting impatiently for this all week. I snatched up the phone and began pacing the house. I tried to ignore my stomach twisting nervously as I finally held the piece of paper out before me and poked the numbers into the phone. Swallowing, I raised it to my ear and waited, the sickening feeling in my stomach growing stronger with every dial.

Ring, ring.

Ring, ring.

Ring, ring once again.

"Hello…" I heard a voice say.

"Hey, it's me. Daisy," I said, trying to ignore how nervous I was feeling.

"…and is unable to take your call. Please leave your message after the tone."

I gasped, swearing a little before frantically pressing the red button repeatedly. Good one. I stood there, mentally shaking my head at what an idiot I must have sounded, when a thought suddenly popped into my head; he hadn't answered. My mind started to throw around theories as to why. My stomach sunk as I contemplated the fact that he had deliberately ignored my call. Disappointment swum around my body as I dragged myself upstairs and walked into my room. Tears were threatening to well up in my eyes, and I hastily pressed my finger tips hard against my eyelids. When I opened my eyes, random patterns and spirals were swirling in front of me, making me feel dizzy.

My cat Marmalade strutted arrogantly into my room. I'd never liked her much. She stared at me for a moment, whipping her tail side to side.

"What?" I asked her.

She meowed.

"Go away."

She obeyed.

Sighing deeply, I lay back on my bed and felt my throat close up and the tears begin to make an appearance again. I let them fall this time. As much as I had initially wanted to act like I wasn't upset, I couldn't be bothered to pretend otherwise, and pulled a cushion over my head. I cried gently into it while rain began to fall and tap against my window.

I was running barefoot on the beach. Stones kept digging into my skin and sand was sticking to me. My destination was a beach hut just ahead of me, though no matter how fast I ran, I would never get any further to it. A telephone box unearthed itself from the sand next to me, from which a large snake slithered and buried itself back underground. I continued to run. Though not changing my path to head toward the telephone box, it was exactly where my feet were carrying me. I tripped over. The phone started to scream. It would scream and then it would stop. It would scream and then it would stop. Gradually the scream grew fainter. To my ears it was soon beginning to sound more like an actual ringing telephone. My eyes snapped open and my ceiling was above me.

I could hear the muffled sound of my sister's voice through my door on which she was knocking aggressively. She was talking to someone but I couldn't hear a second voice. "Come in," I sighed, sitting up in bed and brushing the hair away from my eyes. My nap had made me feel drowsy, and somehow sleepier than I had done before I had fallen asleep. Tiff walked in and thrust the telephone into my hand after telling whoever was on the other end that I was here. I looked at her inquisitively, and in return she shrugged her shoulders and mouthed 'some guy asking for you'. She turned on her heel and marched out, closing the door behind her.

"Hello?" I said, yawning.

And through the phone came the voice of PJ Liguori. My hand flew up to my mouth and I grinned foolishly underneath my fingertips as he said hello and started to explain why he hadn't been able to answer my call earlier. Waving a hand in front of my face, fanning myself for a reason I'm not too sure of, I bounced up and down a little on my bed. I couldn't help this; it was almost as if I were a puppet whose strings were being controlled by a puppeteer who wanted nothing more than to see me happy.

"So, yeah. I'm really sorry I couldn't answer your call, but as I say I was just really caught up in filming."

"It's okay, I thought you'd realised you'd made a terrible mistake giving your number to a lunatic like me and had just decided to try and get rid of me," I said, rolling my eyes at my half an hour ago self who had been so distressed at that thought.

I heard him laugh. "No, that doesn't sound like something I'm too keen on doing."

Ten minutes later he asked me if I was busy that evening. My puppeteer to blame, I nodded enthusiastically.

"Daisy?"

My puppeteer had cruelly neglected to remind me verbal communication was more effective for a phone call than gestures were.

"Yes I am," I blurted out excitedly.

"Good. Do you like ice skating?"


	5. Chapter 5

When, somewhat regrettably, I had hit the hang up button on my phone, it took every shred of self control I had to resist the urge to lunge for the nearest pillow and scream into it at the top of my lungs. The quickened heart beat I had become used to ever since I had met PJ arrived with a thud in my chest. The hairs on the back of my neck pricked up and, sitting back to think about the date we had ahead of us, a smile stretched across my face. Half an hour I lay like this, cheeks aching from the grin but my brain telling me nothing other than to continue beaming.

The autumn slipped into a gentle winter within the next few days, which I spent with mum shopping for a suitable outfit for my date. She was the only person I had told about PJ. Had she not seen me speak to him in the café, I perhaps wouldn't have bothered. That way I could have avoided her giggles of excitement for me, and her comments on literally every item of clothing I considered buying: "You don't want that", "you really don't want that", and "are you kidding me?" being her most frequent. Despite the sometimes annoying judgements she made on what I wanted to buy, it was nice to have the company and, to be honest, the support. This would be my first ever date with a guy. My acne and braces had successfully fended off any boy I had ever liked during secondary school, and though now they were both a distant memory, they had knocked my confidence something awful. I've had twenty years of my parents telling me I was beautiful, but as I am their own work of art they feel obligated to admire, I find it quite hard to believe them.

I spent the next twelve days fighting away the nervousness I felt every time I thought about the date. The meals I ate didn't seem to agree with the butterflies that were already in my stomach, and I found myself standing in front of my mirror in my underwear on many occasions, picking at the flaws I feared PJ would notice. After a few tears at the sight of me, I decided, finally, not to dwell on it, and the night before the ice-skating adventure I slipped into an easy sleep and woke the next morning in a good mood. Just as they had after I had first met PJ, the activities with which I busied myself during the day passed me by unnoticed, my mind occupied with nothing but the evening which was approaching.

My battle suit was all ready by five o'clock. I had wrapped myself in a new outfit, and had perfected my makeup and hair to the best of my ability, and was ready to go. With another lurch of my heart, I drove the twenty minute journey to where we had decided to meet. There was an ice rink somewhere nearby I'd been to once for a birthday party a long time ago, and following the directions I'd been kindly provided with by my mum, I got there with no trouble.

I left the warmth of my car and walked toward the entrance, my breath clear before me and my nose wriggling against the biting chill. The building was lovely. It was built with red brick and had large windows through which outsiders could look to see ice-skaters whizzing around in a brightly lit room with no ceiling. This time of night in winter, from the room, the stars could be seen as you skated, if you dared look upward. A moment later I was entering the building, scanning the impressive entrance hall for a familiar face. I was just standing on my tiptoes to see above the heads of a family leaving the rink, when I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder. Behind me was PJ, wearing a thick black coat, grey skinny jeans and brown boots. His hair had captured a few drops of snow, and the tip of his nose was as pink as I'm sure my own was.

"Hey you," he said to me. I'd forgotten how wonderful it was to hear his voice.

"Hi," I breathed. Had you been expecting it, which I surely was, you'd have noticed the slight hint of excitement at seeing him again in my voice. Luckily, PJ didn't notice, and instead shrugged off his coat and offered to take mine.

"You're looking lovely," he said, as my coat came off.

"You're looking lovely, too."

We both smiled and I looked down at my shoes.

"Shall we?" he said, beckoning toward the rink.

After trying on at least three pairs of skates each before finding the best pair, we wobbled over to the door, on which were the words "ICE RINK, THIS WAY". Until this moment I hadn't given any thought to how good PJ was at skating. Stepping onto the ice however, it was clear he was very good. Where I basically pulled myself onto the rink and clung to the barrier, he slid across the ice effortlessly and grinned when I wobbled.

Everyone skating past us seemed to be doing it so much better than I was. Even a woman opposite me on the rink, also gripping onto the barrier, looked like she was more confident than me. I rolled my eyes.

"Last time I went ice-skating was like…" I tried to remember, but focusing on that lost my focus on keeping my balance, and I nearly fell into a couple of teenagers in front of me. "It was a million years okay?" I jokingly growled at him, noticing he was smirking. Even though it was at my expense, the smirk made my heart skip a beat. PJ happened to look incredibly sexy when he smirked. I swallowed, and tried to man up a bit and gave myself a push away from the barrier, and for a few minutes I was doing okay. PJ glided by my side as we travelled around the rink.

"You're getting better, bambi."

I giggled. "Shut up. I bet you were no Torvill or Dean when you first did this."

"Ah but this isn't your first time, remember? You did it a million years ago."

I poked my tongue out at him. He laughed. I recognised the laugh from his videos. It sounded the same as it does when he laughs as his own jokes sometimes. We circled the rink several times, me getting better with every lap, he still making it look easy. I smiled through the whole thing; we shared embarrassing childhood memories and discussed our favourite ice cream flavour. Just as I was telling him all about my annoying little sister, a child whizzed past me and knocked into my leg. There was no hope. As if in slow motion, I felt myself falling. Bracing myself for a painful landing, I snapped my eyes shut, but felt a hand grab mine. I opened my eyes in just enough time to see PJ clutching onto me, before my weight and his awkward angle pulled us both down onto the ice together. We collapsed in a heap, causing several people to swerve quickly out of our way. My arse hit the ice quite hard, and I let out a small whimper of pain. Sprawled out uncomfortably, I wiped my hair out of my eyes and looked up at PJ, whose entire body was over me. His eyes met mine, piercing me as they were so close. A laugh escaped his mouth as one escaped mine. We laughed for an entire thirty seconds before two men in high visibility jackets skated over to us and lifted us up to our feet again.

"Thanks," we muttered to them as they tutted and skated away.

"Miserable bastards. You'd think they'd be used to a pair of idiots, wouldn't you." I said, frowning at them, before turning round to PJ. His expression wasn't what I expected, and I blushed a little when I saw it. He wore a small crooked smile on his face, and his eyes watched me for a moment, before he closed the small gap between us and took hold of my hands. I watched him as he leaned into me, and inhaled deeply as his nose bumped gently into mine a second before he was pressing his lips against me. Our lips parted slightly and our breath appeared in the air, though as our eyes were closed, neither of us saw. I forgot about the chill of the ice as he wrapped his arms round my waist and a lovely warmth spread through me.


End file.
